Padded Medical Procedure Finger Cot

ABSTRACT

A finger cot may be formed of a polymer and include one or more pads over the fingernail side of one or more distal finger joints. The finger cot may optionally be lubricated, sterile, reversible and/or disposable, and may incorporate indicia indicating the location of the pads. The pads may provide protection from, e.g., repetitive stresses in tapping vials or syringes in medical examination, surgery, laboratory procedures, or other clinical contexts.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/391,298, filed Apr. 25, 2016, titled “Medical exam glove and finger cot with added protection for fingernail bed and fingertip,” and U.S. Nonprovisional patent application Ser. No. 15/493,763, filed Apr. 21, 2017, titled “Padded Medical Procedure Glove and Finger Cot,” the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

This application pertains to finger cots for use, e.g., in medical examination, surgery, and laboratory procedures.

SUMMARY

A finger cot may be formed of a polymer and include with one or more pads over the back side of one or more distal finger joints. The finger cot may optionally be lubricated, sterile, reversible and/or disposable, and may incorporate indicia indicating the location of the pads. The pads may provide protection from, e.g., repetitive stresses in tapping vials or syringes in medical examination, surgery, laboratory procedures, or other clinical contexts.

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to limitations that solve any or all disadvantages noted in any part of this disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more detailed understanding may be had from the following description, given by way of example in conjunction with the accompanying figures. The figures are not necessarily drawn to scale.

FIG. 1 illustrates a number of finger cots with a variety of pads.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

A finger cot may be formed of a polymer and include with one or more pads over the back side of one or more distal finger joints. The finger cot may optionally be lubricated, sterile, reversible and/or disposable, and may incorporate indicia indicating the location of the pads. The pads may provide protection from, e.g., repetitive stresses in tapping vials or syringes in medical examination, surgery, laboratory procedures, or other clinical contexts.

Certain repetitive activities can create difficulties for practitioners in medical fields. For example, frequently tapping on vials, syringes, or laboratory glassware to liberate gas bubbles or trigger precipitation can cause stress, pain, or damage to the hand or fingers. Such issues may be partly or wholly alleviated with the use finger cots with appropriately formed and positioned pads.

In practice, a finger cot may incorporate any number of pads of any style at any location on the glove. It may be preferred to use a single style of pad. For example, optionally a pad integrally formed into the finger cot, and covered on both sides by the polymer material of the body of the finger cot, may provide the best options for sterilizing the finger cot. It may be preferred to place the pads only over the distal joints of the finger on the fingernail side of the finger. For example, pads may optionally be placed only over the nail and second joint of the finger, e.g., for use in tapping vials, syringes, or glassware, with no pads over the finger tips on the fingerprint side of the finger. This would allow greater sensitivity and dexterity in manipulating objects.

FIG. 1 shows a set of example finger cots 100 illustrating a number of ways in which padding may be applied to the finger cots. The finer cot 110 has a pad 115 which is visible from the exterior of the finger cot 110. In practice, a pad such as pad 115 may be affixed to the exterior of the finger cot, affixed to the interior of the finger cot, or formed as an integral part of the finger cot, for example. The finger cot 120 has a pad 125 in the form of a band or ring surrounding the first joint of the finger. In this example, the pad 125 is shown as being placed around the finger cot 120. Alternatively, in practice, the pad 125 may be formed within the finger cot 120 or affixed to the interior of the finger cot 120.

The finger cot 130 has a pad 135 which is not visible on the exterior of the finger cot 130. The pad 135 may be formed integrally with the finger cot 100 or affixed to the interior of the finger cot 130. The finger cot 140 similarly has a pad 145 which is not visible on the exterior of the finger cot 140. The finger cot 140 additionally has an indicia 147 by which a user of the finger cot 140 may know where the pad 145 is located. In the example of FIG. 1, the indicia 147 is a small cross. Again, in practice, an indicia may take the form of a print dot, line, or emblem, or a textured surface, for example, or any other suitable indicator. An indicia may be placed on any pad, whether the pad is visible on the exterior of a finger cot or not, and may additionally be placed on the interior surface of the finger cot to allow reversibility. The finger cot 150 has a pad 155 in the form of a cap over the end of the pinkie 150. The pad 155 provide protection both to the fingerprint side and fingernail side of the finger cot 150. In this example, the pad 155 is shown as being place over the body of the finger cot 150. In practice, the pad 155 may alternatively be formed integrally with the finger cot, e.g., molding it into the finger cot 150, or affixed to the interior of the finger cot 150.

As with gloves, a finger cot may incorporate any number of pads of any style at any location on the finger cot.

The finger cots described herein may be of any thickness. For example, heavy duty medical examination gloves may have a general thickness of ten mils (i.e., 0.010 inches) or more, whereas surgical finger cots may be as thin as two mils or thinner.

The pads of the finger cots described herein may be of any size and thickness. Generally, it is advantageous for the pads to generally cover the back of at least one joint of the finger the pad protects, e.g., where the finger would contact a vial or syringe when tapping on the vial or syringe. The pads may be thin, e.g., on the order of the thickness of the finger cot generally. This may be acceptable when hard pad materials are used. Generally, thickness pads may be preferred, e.g., when made of impact absorbing rubbers or other polymers, like those materials used to form the finger cot generally. In such cases, the pads may be many times thicker than the finger cot material, e.g., at least 25 mils thick, or 50, or 125 mils, i.e., ⅛ of an inch thick, or more.

The pads may be made of any material. Cotton or poly fill may be used, for example, as well as plastics, polymers, gels.

The finger cots described herein may be reversible. For example, the padding may be integral to the finger cot such that the padding material is exposed neither to the interior or exterior surface of the finger cot. Alternatively, the padding may be of the same material as the finger cot. Thus, for purposes of protection or sterility, for example, it would not matter whether the finger cot were worn right-side-out or inside-out. For example, indicia indicating the location of padding may be placed both on the interior and exterior of the finger cot to facilitate location of the pad when the finger cot is worn right-side-out or inside-out.

The finger cots described herein may vary in thickness from one part to another. For example, an examination finger cot that is generally six mils thick, may have thicker areas, such as dots or ridges, at points on the fingerprint side or finger tip.

The finger cots described herein may be made of any suitable material. Safety finger cots, including finger cots used for medical and laboratory purposes may be made of natural and artificial latex, nitrile rubber, polyvinyl chloride, neoprene, isoprene, and polyisoprene, for instance. The pads for the finger cots may be made of similar materials or plastics, for instance.

The finger cots described herein may be lubricated or unlubricated. Cornstarch and lycopodium powder may be used as lubricants. For purposes of sterility, lubricants may be omitted.

In describing embodiments of the subject matter of the present disclosure, as illustrated in the figures, specific terminology is employed for the sake of clarity. The claimed subject matter, however, is not intended to be limited to the specific terminology so selected, and it is to be understood that each specific element includes all technical equivalents that operate in a similar manner to accomplish a similar purpose.

This written description uses examples to disclose the invention, including the best mode, and also to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the invention, including making and using any devices or systems and performing any incorporated methods. The patentable scope of the invention is defined by the claims and may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be within the scope of the claims if they have structural elements that do not differ from the literal language of the claims, or if they include equivalent structural elements with insubstantial differences from the literal languages of the claims. 

1. A finger cot consisting of: a fingerprint side and a fingernail side, the fingerprint side and the fingernail side together providing a continuous outer covering made of a polymer selected from the list consisting of: latex, nitrile rubber; polyvinyl chloride; neoprene; isoprene; and polyisoprene, the finger cot configured to extend over the distal joints; fingerprint side and fingernail side of a human finger; one or more pads made of the polymer with a thickness of 20 mils or greater, the one or more pads integrated with the finger cot on the fingernail side, the one or more pads located at a distal portion of the finger cot, the one or more pads configured to extend over a fingernail and a second joint of a finger of the human hand when worn, a thickness of the continuous outer covering being in the range of 1 to 15 mils.
 2. The finger cot of claim 1, where the finger cot is a medical examination finger cot.
 3. The finger cot of claim 1, where the finger cot is a surgical finger cot.
 4. The finger cot of claim 1, where the finger cot is lubricated.
 5. The finger cot of claim 1 where the finger cot is lubricated with cornstarch or lycopodium powder.
 6. The finger cot of claim 1, where the finger cot is sterile.
 7. The finger cot of claim 1, where the finger cot is disposable.
 8. The finger cot of claim 1, further consisting of: a continuous inner covering, the continuous inner covering configured to extend over the distal joints; fingerprint side and the fingernail side of a human finger; the one or more pads is integrated between the continuous inner covering and the continuous outer covering, such that the finger cot is reversible. 